Société Avions Jodel is a French aircraft company started in 1946 by

Édouard Joly Édouard Joly, born in Burgundy in 1898, deceased in 1982 was a French aeroplane designer best known for his work with Jean Délémontez on the Jodel range of light aircraft. Biography Joly worked for 14 years at a company that sold and repaired ...

and his son-in-law

Jean Délémontez Jean Délémontez (9 June 1918 – 7 July 2015) was a French aircraft designer. He was born in Lyon in June 1918. He is best known for his work with his father-in-law, Édouard Joly, on the Jodel range of light aircraft and his collaboration with ...

History

Jodel designed a range of light aeroplanes shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The popular myth is that the two industrialists, with no formal

aerodynamic Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

s training, set about designing a single-seat aircraft with some spare plywood and a small engine, a Poinsard 25hp 2-cyl. The result was the 1948 D9 Bébé (Baby) model. In fact, the two had much experience of building and designing aircraft, Delemontez being a trained aeronautical engineer, and Joly having built an aircraft before the war. The French government bought many of the aircraft, with more than 500 D9s being built during the next twenty years. Subsequently, the government expressed interest in a larger aircraft as a trainer and the two-seat D11 model followed in 1950. Jodel aircraft are all-wood, usually made from

Sitka spruce ''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to almost tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth-larg ...

and plywood made out of okoume (also known as gaboon), a kind of

West African West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Ma ...

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

. Most of the designs are recognisable by their distinctive

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

s, which have ‘cranked’ dihedral only on the outer third. The wings also incorporate washout, retaining

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

effectiveness at or just prior to the stall. From above or below, the wings are also distinctive as this cranked section of the wing tapers sharply towards the wingtip. The design is popular in France and in Southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, UK, but the type is little known in the USA. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the design has been brought up to date somewhat by Frank Rogers who produced new drawings to standards suited to Australian amateur builders.

Production under license

Apart from prototypes, Jodels were made by a variety of French aviation manufacturers, but all construction ceased during the 1960s. Since that time, the Jodel company only sells licences to build its models and detailed plans to amateur builders of

homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

. The Jodel designs were later licensed to the following companies which produced derivative designs that retained the Jodel wing: *

Avions Robin Robin Aircraft is a French manufacturer of light aircraft. It succeeds to ''Centre-Est Aéronautique'', ''Avions Pierre Robin'' and Apex Aircraft (''Avions Robin'' and ''Robin Aviation''). History Centre-Est Aéronautique was formed by Pierre ...

, France * Aero Difusión,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Falconar Avia Falconar Avia was a Canadian aircraft manufacturer based in Edmonton, Alberta. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of kits and plans for amateur construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 1 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Aircraft

The first model was built in 1948. All Jodel planes have been low-wing monoplanes.Aviafrance Avions Jodel
/ref> * Jodel D9 1948 * Jodel D91 1948 * Jodel D93 1951 *

Jodel D11 The Jodel D.11 is a French two-seat monoplane designed and developed by Société Avions Jodel in response to a French government request for a low-wing aircraft for use by the nation's many emerging flying clubs. More than 3,000 examples have b ...

1950 *Jodel D111 1951 *Jodel D112 1952 *Jodel D113 1960 *Jodel D114 1952 * SAN Jodel D.150 Mascaret 1962 *

Jodel D18 The Jodel D18 is a French ultralight aircraft, designed and produced by Jodel.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 31. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Bo ...

1984 * Jodel D19 1986 * Jodel D-20 1990 * Jodel DR1050 Excellence

References

* {{Jodel aircraft Aircraft manufacturers of France Companies based in Occitania (administrative region)